Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Steve Wood--General Convention Day 9

But that wasn’t all. The House of Deputies rejected a resolution affirming Christ in a multi-faith society. Are you really surprised? I’ve reprinted it below:

Resolved, the House of Bishops’ concurring, That this 76th General Convention of this church affirm the conclusion of the Church of England at its February General Synod and direct the House of Bishops’ Committee on Theology to report back to the 77th General Convention on “their understanding of the uniqueness of Christ in the United States multi-faith society, and offer examples and commendations of good practice in sharing the gospel of salvation through Christ alone with people of other faiths and of none.”

EXPLANATIONIndicative of our support and appreciation for the presence of the Archbishop of Canterbury at this General Convention and his leadership of the Church of England in Christian witness within the multi-faith culture of the United Kingdom, this resolution affirms that the Episcopal Church is in substantial agreement with the Church of England General Synod which directed its House of Bishops at their February 2009 meeting to report back on “their understanding of the uniqueness of Christ in Britain’s multi-faith society, and offer examples and commendations of good practice in sharing the gospel of salvation through Christ alone with people of other faiths and of none.”

Supporting document “General Synod 2/11/09″ is posted and available in hard copy in the General Convention Secretariat until the end of the 76th General Convention.

Oh yeah, there was this too – after a week and a half of listening to our Presiding Bishop speak about openness and transparency the House of Deputies defeated a simple resolution asking the National Church Office to both disclose the amount of money spent by their office suing orthodox/conservative parishes over property ownership (literally, tens of MILLIONS of dollars) and the source/account from where the money is drawn. So much for integrity.